Local4Global

Update September 2009
During 2008-9 WEDG has been able to make significant contributions to both a range of courses in ITE and at a more strategic level to revalidation of Year 3 BA Ed courses and the development of a new module.  Some of the highlights of the year were:-

A 14 week course Learning in the Global Context is now in the final stages of preparation starting with the theme of connections, moving through a range of global issues and ending on a very positive upbeat note about our planet.  Sharing ideas and expertise has been key to the successful development of this module.

A new perspective was tested with RE PGCE Secondary students who had a day of looking at global citizenship and fundraising as this is often a role allocated to them in schools.  The students were able to take away ideas from this session and incorporate them into their planning for a 6th form conference. 

‘The combination of teaching and development expertise provided  trainees with a valuable opportunity to engage in important issues in their own development in a way which can cascade the benefits of the session in one particular school and more generally throughout the School Partnership’  Bob Bowie, Senior Lecturer.

BA Ed art specialist tutors were delighted with the resources that WEDG was able to direct  them to on contemporary African Artists as a result of WEDG attending a networking event where RISC presented the results of their Inside/outside project. Many of the African artists exhibit at the October Gallery in London, and address contemporary global issues. 

Year 3 students from the B A Hons Childhood Studies has a session on including the global dimension  in their contemporary childhood issues module.  This was a new venture for both WEDG and the tutors, as although not training as teachers, most of these students go on to work with children in some capacity.

Download 'evaluation bubbles' >> [doc 1.4MB]

WEDG has made an ongoing contribution to BA(Education) Courses over the past few years, in particular to the Year 3 Geography Specialist Module. This has enabled students to consider the Global perspective within the sessions that Wedg has contributed to and also beyond, within the students Teaching Practice; students are aware that WEDG is willing to support them with ideas and resources. It is also important for students to see issues and teaching from a different perspective other than that provided by Tutors. The input also provides very useful collaborative exchange of ideas and approaches for Tutors.

WEDG has also been very cooperative in assisting with the writing and revalidation of Courses in particular the Year 3 BA (Education) in which a module entitled Learning in The Global Context is due to be taught in September 2009.Tutors responsible for planning have exchanged ideas and resources with Wedg and it is anticipated that this cross curricular module will truly reflect the eight key concepts of developing the global dimension in the school curriculum. We are hoping to work in a similar way with Postgraduate courses in the future. The long term impact of this collaboration will be to promote the global context in schools and in learning at a very important time of Curriculum change.

Evidence for the collaboration can be seen in the various meetings of staff from University and Wedg also with dissemination of material and links on the Virtual Learning Networks within the BA and Postgraduate Courses. It is anticipated to widen this profile in the future in collaborating with the International Courses and the university's policy for Sustainable Development.

Terry Whyte, Senior Lecturer, Primary Education
January 2009

DE Times, February 2009 included an item abou this work with WEDG. Read more at
www.deeep.org/fileadmin/user_upload/downloads/DE_Times/DE_times_february_2009.pdf

Introduction
Within the Faculty of Education at Canterbury Christ Church University there are over 30 courses offered as routes into teaching on four campuses. WEDG has worked with tutors who provide a handful of these courses.

‘The Faculty seeks to build a culture that is sensitive to the issues of international fairness, social justice equality and fraternity in an increasingly globalised world. We promote positive engagement with the international dimension to ensure that it is clearly visible in all of our activities: enhancing the knowledge and understanding, and policies and practices, of all the members of the faculty and university community'.

Aim
To increase the number and scope of courses with an embedded global dimension within the Faculty of Education and identify tutors who will champion the global dimension and make it sustainable.

A proramme of work and outcomes have been specified involving:
Bob Bowie, Dept of Religious Studies, PGCE secondary
Helen Conder, Childhood Studies Department, Foundation Degree in Childhood Studies BA Hons
Claire Hewlett and Margaret Sangster, Programme Director BEd Primary Year 3
Yvonne Stewart, Faculty International Development Officer, BA Hons Education Studies - European and international dimension Y3

Dr John Moss, Dean of Education, Canterbury Christ Church University, October 2008

Background
Canterbury Christ Church University has identified developing its international work as one of its' aims in the strategic plan 2006-2010 (p 7). More specifically, the Faculty of Education is seeking to broaden and internationalise its' courses. To this end we are:

• working with the government of Malaysia on a programme for their teacher trainers
• offering students on the BA Ed (3 year) course the chance to undertake one of their school research projects in south India
• giving MFL students the chance to work in European schools under the Erasmus programme

We have also just revalidated our BA Ed programme and will be including a module for ALL students on the international dimension in their third
year. This is something we have not had in our programmes before.

The inputs from WEDG, while one-offs, must be seen in this wider context: we have a number of staff who are strongly committed to international work. This includes Stephen Scoffham, Terry Whyte, Jonathan Barnes, Ralph Leighton, Sue Hammond, Peter Dorman, Claire Hewlett. The point is that we are moving forward on a broad front with a considerable number of tutors supporting these developments. WEDG can contribute to this process, helping both to facilitate what we know we want to do and initiating new approaches and modes of delivery through its expertise and example.

Of course, the inputs are individual and apparently isolated. We would hardly ask WEDG to run an entire course on our behalf when we have plenty of expertise in house! However, they can be seen as strategic and highly effective interventions. WEDG has contributed to lots of different courses, such as:

In each case the WEDG input adds to and enhances what is already in place. In other words it amplifies the message and helps to build a critical mass which is shifting the centre of gravity in our course delivery and planning.

Canterbury Christ Church University has an outstanding record for its education courses. WEDG is contributing to changing the way one of the country's leading providers approaches its' work. Can there be a better lever for change? A single session with 50 teachers in training could impact on 10,000 children in a single year (200 children in each school that a trainee works in). This must be a very good investment indeed.

Stephen Scoffham, Principal Lecturer, CCCU, January 2008

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